fifty lives
by hyperion flare
Summary: 1sentence on livejournal claim. 50 Sentences about Tseng and Reno, and their relationship and sometimes lack thereof.


**#01 - Walking**  
It'd taken weeks for his wounds to heal, weeks before they let him out of the hospital, but Reno had made sure that the first thing he did, was walk the stairs to the Tseng's office, and glue his papers to his desk.

**#02 - Waltz**  
Tseng once tried to teach him how to fight like he did, but it was harder than learning to dance -- flicking your wrist at a _precise _moment to be able to kill that guy _and _the guy next to him -- so eventually, he'd given it up, preferring to watch Tseng instead.

**#03 - Wishes**  
When he'd woken up, the first thing he noticed were the cranes -- hundreds of them, strung up from the ceiling, filling the room with more color than he could remember seeing -- and the last thing he did before he left was fold an old receipt into the last one, pinning it to Tseng's pillow.

**#04 - Wonder**  
They'd been called out to Rufus as Meteor began to fall, to be together at what seemed to be the end of the world; instead, they watched in stunned silence as the Lifestream rose from the earth, to offer it's own defense.

**#05 - Worry**  
There's something so _final _in the way that he says goodbye, that Reno almost worries that maybe he _won't _make it back this time.

**#06 - Whimsy**  
"Reno, as much as I appreciate the effort, and the fact that you're actually in _some _semblance of the uniform today -- please remember that moogle-print ties aren't actually part of it."

**#07 - Waste/Wasteland**  
Reno insisted on having the curtains drawn whenever he ended up staying late, refusing to stare out them at any other time, and Tseng couldn't blame him: he didn't like seeing the rubble that was Sector Seven, either.

**#08 - Whiskey and rum**  
The first time they'd met, Tseng had thought Reno was drunk -- constantly smelling of rum and sweat, stumbling when he went around corners -- but once he'd seen the loose-limbed way he fought, watched him duck a well-aimed kick by staggering away, he realized that first impressions really didn't count.

**#09 - War**  
It became a fight somewhere between the first 'accident' and the seventh time (in the communal showers, up against the walls) and instead of coming out of it smiling, they come out covered in bruises and scrapes, from teeth and hands and being slammed too hard into the wall, but Reno's pretty much convinced that he's reached _heaven _anyway.

**#10 - Weddings**  
Elena walks in on them, both half-naked and sprawled over Tseng's desk, and instead of entering the blind panic they both defaulted to -- screaming about clothing and privacy --she asks Reno when the wedding is.

**#11 - Birthday**  
How they find out, he'll never know, but when he makes it into his office, there's a fresh cup of real, _imported _coffee, some bizarre form of potted cacti, and a small, yellow note pasted to the top of his desk, leaving him somewhat bewildered, but still happier than he has been in a long time.

**#12 - Blessing**  
When he wakes up it's hard to remember where he is, let alone what transpired the night before, but he remembers _everything _the moment he rolls over and is confronted with the sleeping face of his_ completely naked_ boss, and starts whispering _ohgodpleaselethimnotkillme._

**#13 - Bias**  
Reno's known him long enough to know that it wasn't an accident _those _troops survived -- they _were _from Wutai, after all.

**#14 - Burning**  
The back of his throat feels like it's on fire, but he can't stop, has to keep hovering and looking and _praying _to whatever-the-fuck is supposed to be helping them at times like these that the fucking smog clears up, so that he can actually see where he's going, see the suit he's meant to be seeking out.

**#15 - Breathing**  
The first few gasping breaths that Tseng takes up at the temple are like music; for a few moments, Reno considers leaving some token of gratitude to the gods, before deciding _fuck it, let's go _and dragging Tseng out to the chopper.

**#16 - Breaking**  
When the ShinRa Building was blown to pieces, and their president assumed dead, all they could do was find a place to re-group, to try and hold what was left of the Turks together.

**#17 - Belief**  
There wasn't any time for prayer when you lived in the slums, so he'd always dismissed it as stupid: something, based solely on the way Tseng whispered blessings in his sleep, he planned to reconsider.

**#18 - Balloon**  
For Reno's birthday they'd all pitched in for balloons to be delivered to his desk, each with their own message written on the outside, but Tseng's held the best surprise -- Instead of just exploding when Reno decided to pop them, it doused him in a thick coat of blue paint, causing the whole office to stop their work and laugh at him for a good ten minutes, while Reno vowed revenge.

**#19 - Balcony**  
At first he swears that he's going to come down there and kill him, what the fuck was he _thinking _climbing up here at three-a-_fucking_-m, but instead, he walks across his room, unlocks the doors, and joins him on the balcony, kissing soft red hair as he steals the cigarette from his mouth, ignoring the rude gesture.

**#20 - Bane**  
_Another _reactor had shut down, forcing Tseng to take _another _group out to _another _shitty little town to fix _another _stupid problem that could have been avoided if President Shinra had just done his fucking job, meaning that Reno has to wait _another _week or _three _before he can actually relax again, instead of hovering by the phone, making sure that Tseng doesn't get killed in a helicopter crash or something else equally as _stupid_.

**#21 - Quiet**  
The only time Reno was ever truly quiet was when he was sleeping: face tucked up under Tseng's arm, hardly moving except to breathe.

**#22 - Quirks**  
Reno only drank his coffee if it was lukewarm and contained _at least_ six teaspoons of sugar, something Tseng apparently found horrifying -- he refused to be around him if Reno had a cup, and insisted on waving his (expensive, imported) cups of coffee under his nose, making sure he had a cup handy if Reno was about.

**#23 - Question**  
"Reno, what the _fuck _have you done to your hair?"

**#24 - Quarrel**  
It's cold, it's raining, and all he wants to do is _sleep_, damnit, but Tseng won't stop screaming, so naturally the only thing left for Reno to do is shout back: "If you're that _fucking _miserable with the way things are, why don't you go screw Elena; she'd make you a helluva lot happier than I _fucking _well am!"

**#25 - Quitting**  
And all of a sudden, the half-empty packet is flung across the room, sides crushed together, and Reno's muttering, "Fuck, boss, if that was all that was stoppin' ya, I would've quit sooner."

**#26 - Jump**  
The only time he'd seen Tseng frightened (although it would be better defined as _moderately scared_, according to Elena), was when they were back in Wutai after the war: He'd jump every time someone touched him, and he hardly slept, choosing instead to sit by the window and stare at the city.

**#27 - Jester**  
Reno, he soon discovered, couldn't be serious if he tried: even when the world was crumbling around them, when he and Tseng were holed up in some shack under what remained of Sector Seven, and he was helping Tseng to bandage his wound, Reno would be cracking jokes, trying to keep his boss laughing -- anything to avoid the fear that enveloped the city.

**#28 - Jousting**  
Tseng _almost _killed Reno when he came to investigate the disappearance of several company-issue pencils and rolls of tape, and found he and Elena in a "jousting deathmatch" -- sliding across the floor at each other, pencils taped to their chairs in a mockery of a lance -- but only almost.

**#29 - Jewel**  
His eyes glowed in the dark sometimes -- more mako green than emerald -- but that didn't stop Tseng from calling them gems, ignoring Reno's protests against the term.

**#30 - Just**  
"I know there's nothing in the uniform policy against them, Boss -- just let me keep the plaits for the rest of today, ne?"

**#31 - Smirk**  
"I don't care, Reno: Get in there and get the fucking chocobo _out_, before I _shoot _that smile off your face."

**#32 - Sorrow**  
It'd taken weeks for Cissnei to get back into work after what happened to Zack, and it'd been days before anyone realized she'd disappeared off the face of the planet, but it'd only taken Rufus a few hours to find Reno and send him home, telling him that Tseng _wouldn't get any better if you stand there and watch him twenty four-seven._

**#33 - Stupidity**  
"It was dumb," Reno sniffles, looking at Rude blankly, "And I mean, sure, I shouldn't have said it, but he could have at least _tried _to make me come back or something, you know?"

**#34 - Serenade**  
When the Geostigma was gone, Rufus started playing the piano again; Tseng brought in some flowers from the church for the boardroom, helping Reno clean it properly, so that they could stay there in the evenings, listening to songs that they only just remembered and hoping that this meant it was going to last.

**#35 - Sarcasm**  
"I think it's a perfectly acceptable name for a Chocobo... _Yes, I do_.... especially if you wish for it to try and kill you in your sleep."

**#36 - Sordid**  
It's the second time they've screwed in an alleyway -- it's raining, soaking Reno to the bone, but he it's not like he's complaining; Tseng's moaning and although someone could walk around the corner any minute now, neither of them cares.

**#37 - Soliloquy**  
There was a letter tucked under a few books in the old ShinRa mansion, where Hojo would have been working -- Lucretia writing to Vincent, putting all her fears for their project on the paper and writing her prayers that Hojo would send him this _one letter_; not knowing that she was too late, signing it with _love Lucretia_, -- and Tseng started to write one of his own for Reno, tucking it into the back of his wallet, _just in case._

**#38 - Sojourn**  
Tseng never lingered at Reno's (not that they ended up there often, Tseng's place was closer), choosing to wake at some hellish hour in the morning to crawl back to his own apartment instead -- understandable, considering the rumors that were already spread about the place -- but sometimes Reno wishes he would stay, just _once_.

**#39 - Share**  
Reno wasn't used to having to share partners with other people, usually content to sit back and relax -- but when he realized exactly how married to the job Tseng was, he began concocting elaborate schemes to try and get his lover away from the office for at least three nights a week -- a battle he knew he was going to win, _by any means necessary._

**#40 - Solitary**  
When they were put into the new ShinRa building after Diamond Weapon blew up the first one, Tseng had trouble adapting -- he had been used to being able to sit alone in his office, shirking paperwork and relaxing -- but he had to learn to work with the others: it was hard to have any peace when Reno and Elena were fighting every ten minutes.

**#41 - Nowhere**  
"I need to get away for a while," Reno half-yelled, throwing his things into an old bag as he did his best to ignore Rude's complaints, "I need to be _nowhere _for a few days."

**#42 - Neutral**  
Rude watched Tseng out of the corner of his eye during the interrogation -- only half-listening to the criminal spouting filth about what they were going to do to Reno if anything happened to him, meaning that they should let him go now -- and sat calmly as his boss stood, firing three shots into the idiot's head, before nodding and exiting the room.

**#43 - Nuance**  
He'd tried to tell him once, that the world didn't depend on them being together -- but Reno can't help but think, staring out at the destruction that Meteor caused, that he might have been wrong this time.

**#44 - Near**  
They were so close that Reno was convinced he'd actually melted and become _part _of Tseng, fusing together in a sweaty, messy tangle of arms and legs that he wasn't convinced he could actually pull himself out of.

**#45 - Natural**  
Reno seemed to take an almost obscene pleasure out of offering to prove to the paper-girls that red _really was _his natural color, causing a majority of them to turn interesting shades of crimson themselves -- he was eventually forced to stop, when Tseng walked in mid-tirade, and confirmed it for them calmly, walking away as Reno fell off his chair.

**#46 - Horizon**  
The horizon remained an ominous red for days after Meteor, bathing their apartment in an eerie orange glow -- and they sat together at the table, ignoring their phones in favor of spending some quiet time together, for once.

**#47 - Valiant**  
"A pro isn't someone who sacrifices themselves for a job... That's just the fool."

**#48 - Virtuous**  
"You're hardly a paragon of virtue yourself, you know," Tseng laughed, pulling Reno closer.

**#49 - Victory**  
It was supposed to be their little secret: something between them that the others couldn't know about -- but it didn't stop Reno from gloating to himself, claiming victory over those who had tried (and failed) to seduce Tseng before.

**#50 - Defeat**  
"What the fuck do you mean, _get out of bed._.. It's a fucking Saturday and... Holy _shit_, is that _what_... a fucking _Meteor_?!"


End file.
